Wolfgang Carstens' first book of poetry CRUDELY MISTAKEN FOR LIFE (Epic Rites Press) was released earlier this year and is available online through Small Press Distribution at spdbooks.org, amazon.com, pagemaster.ca, and stocked on the shelves of finer bookstores everywhere.

"Wolf Carstens is the real deal." - John Yamrus, American author

"This book grows on you. Enters your blood. This is compassionate, carefully crafted poetry fascinating to read and worthy of detailed study." - George Anderson, Bold Monkey

“This book is stunningly evocative. Be careful when you pick up this book, you might not be able to put it down.” – Tony Moffeit, American author

“Wolfgang Carstens debuts here with a rock-solid collection of poems where you can sense the presence of the viscera under the blood-coated muscle that is the text... Not so much a traditional anthology of poems as a manifesto and statement of intent combined with a dissertation on life and the sort of things that are deserving in it, love, loyalty, and the forgotten child inside.” – David McLean, Welsh author

“Wolfgang Carstens paints elegant images with intense brushes, uncovering the roots of madness, inhumanity and sorrow in his poetry. There are lines and images as stark as the desert and as delicate as fresh blooms of spring flowers. Carstens goes places you don't want to follow, but, inevitably you do (and for the better). This is poetry, rich, full and brimming with life, even that wrought from the darkest corners.” – Jack Henry, American author

“Wolfgang’s book Crudely Mistaken for Life is a tour de force of poetic skill that you won’t put down until the sun is coming up and your tears are spent and the bottle of Petron next to you is bone dry.” – Diana Rose, The Highdra Syndicate

“In this book Carstens leads the reader on a journey of life, death, and the beauty and pain caught in between... inside these pages you will find some truth, maybe yourself. I’ll trade $15.50 for that any day.” – Scot Young, The Rusty Truck

“... real and true and breath-taking.” – Paul Harrison, Australian author